Exposure Therapy

What is Exposure Therapy?

Exposure therapy is a therapeutic technique that is used for the treatment of Anxiety Disorders, Specific Phobias, Social Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), PTSD, Hoarding and other psychiatric conditions. It is a structured form of therapy that has been well-studied and shown to be very effective in the treatment of these conditions. Exposure Therapy is a modality that falls under the umbrella of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) a form of psychotherapy that has been utilized for decades for the treatment of various psychiatric conditions and difficulties. Additional information on CBT can be found here.

Exposure therapy is based on the premise that when a trigger causes anxiety, or when someone is afraid of something specific, they tend to avoid it. While avoidance may make someone feel more comfortable in the short term, over the long-term avoidance reinforces the belief that a person needs to avoid people, situations or behaviors that make them anxious, in order to reduce their distress. This prevents individuals from overcoming fears. Instead, individuals may become progressively more-so held back by them, and their anxiety from the same triggers can actually become worse over time.

Exposure therapy works to desensitize individuals from the triggers that cause them anxiety, allowing them to no longer be held back by their anxieties.

Who May Benefit from Exposure Therapy Treatment?

Exposure Therapy has been shown to be a safe and effective form of psychotherapy for children, adolescents and adults, who struggle with various psychiatric conditions including:

• Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
• Specific Phobias (such as a fear of heights, dogs, driving or others)
• Social Anxiety
• Hoarding
• Disordered Eating
• Panic Disorder
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What does Exposure Therapy Entail?

Exposure therapy involves systematically exposing individuals to triggers that increase their anxiety, in a controlled and safe fashion, allowing patients to progressively overcome these anxieties and fears. Individuals may work with their expert clinician to create a specific “hierarchy” or “ladder” of triggers, and proceed to work from those that tend to cause low levels of anxiety, to those that may be more likely to incite higher degrees of anxiety. By mastering anxieties in a tiered fashion (becoming desensitized to less anxiety provoking stimuli first, before moving to more difficult triggers) individuals become progressively less affected by these stimuli, and gain confidence and insight about the desensitization process, before handing more stressful triggers.

Exposure therapy may occur in a provider’s office, virtually with online appointments, and in-between appointments with their clinician by means of “homework” that the patient and provider decide upon at their scheduled appointments.

Can Exposure Therapy be Used With Medication?

Exposure therapy is a non-pharmacological (non-medication) treatment option for OCD, anxiety disorders and other conditions. With that said, some individuals may benefit from Exposure Therapy in conjunction with medication management. The providers at Rittenhouse Psychiatric Associates will collaborate with your prescriber (whether they are within our practice, or outside of it) to coordinate your care and collaborate on your treatment.

Why Schedule Exposure Therapy and CBT at Rittenhouse?

The providers at Rittenhouse Psychiatric Associates are academically oriented providers, most of whom teach, or have taught, at local academic institutions. Our providers are Board Certified Psychiatrists and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners and we have several licensed and doctoral level therapists and psychologists, who have specific training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Therapy, for the treatment of Anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), PTSD and various other mental health conditions.

• Licensed Therapists and Doctoral Level Psychologists
• Board Certified Psychiatrists and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners
• Academically Oriented providers, most of whom teach, or have taught, at local Academic Institutions
• Appointments generally available within 2 weeks.
• In-office and online Virtual Appointments for Exposure Therapy.